HTC One: Unexpected Urgency, Update Uncertain

The HTC One has had a less than serene launch that the company needed, as many of our readers may be already be aware. One of the best Android devices there is (likely among the best smartphones as well) has met some severe bumps along the ride, some immediately after the unveiling. The company now claims that they have doubled the production and are continuing to ramp it up further to meet the ?unforeseen? demand as the supply issues are being alleviated.

Jack Tong, president of the HTC NA, said last Thursday that the production capacity will double in May and continue to rise onwards, depending on the market. ?Our capacity is expected to rise significantly starting mid-May. We are optimistic about our high-end sales during April and June,? he noted, without disclosing any numbers on shipped units.

Curiously, another ?growth engine? for the second quarter finances will be the 5? HTC Butterfly (known as HTC Droid DNA on Verizon), as the sales increase has been up by as much as 50% in Japan as the on-contract pricing got nullified. Additionally, Tong confirmed that the Butterfly will receive the Sense 5.0 update as well as the BlinkFeed feature later this month.

Meanwhile, the competing flagship product from Samsung, the Galaxy SIV, is breaking all of the company?s records with an incredible 10 million units shipped thus far. While the HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) is struggling to keep the company relevant in the smartphone market, the folks at Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) are surely happily rubbing their hands, as both of these immensely popular flagships are using their Snapdragon 600 SoC solution (in the US for the SGS4).

As the Galaxy S4 runs the fresh Android 4.2.2, many have been worried about the lack of info from the HTC about their flagship, which currently runs the Android 4.1.2. The ffficial announcement is still nonexistent, though some rumors have started to surface recently. According to the ROM developer LlabTooFeR, the HTC One could be getting the upgrade within a matter of weeks. However, at least until some more conclusive info pops out, take this with a grain of salt. Good sales and high overall demand of the HTC One will surely positively reflect on the internal projections (or even lift them up at some point) , as the Taiwanese company expects to have NT$70bn ($2.37 billion) of revenue and gross margin of 22-24% in the second quarter of the 2013.

There are also rumors that HTC’s One may be getting the same Google treatment as the Galaxy S4, with an HTC One version for Google possibly becoming available to consumers through Google. While this remains to be seen, it could also potentially boost sales for HTC if true.